The Forrest City times., 1887-11-19
"why. and nc~ oni you mention its'

"why, and nc-s osi you mention itss asked Lord Stair.
 "Because l could do nothing with her. could not persuade her, I coulC not influence her, she would not trus' me, and l told her how good and kint you were, that she could not do bette. thing in this world than tell her story to you; but she would not hear Of it She seemed so frightened that I wal half afraid she would die in the cell.p "Why should she be afraid of seeing mel" he asked.
 That was her secret, papa; sh, would not tell me; in fact she told m' nothing except that the greatest kind ness we could do her was to forget her to let her pass out of our lives, never t, think of her again. She repeated it s, often that 1 am quite sure she meant it She told me that when her term of i'm prisonment was over she would go te America, and she prayed me to leave her and never come back"
 What an extraordinary thing '' cried Lord Stair.
 Il am quite sure now" said tn, duchess, "that she is no thief; an more puzzled than ever"
 ''I can not imagine why she will noi sec me-" said Lord Stair.
 "It was not merely that she would not see you" replied his daughter; iii was the extraordinary emotion and agi' tation at the sound of your name even that puzzled me-"
 "It confirms your theory, Ethel, that she is really Phoebe Askern?"
 "No," said the duchess, sadly, "I dc nt hfrl ha sa ha AaE
 "Then why should she dread seeing me? If she be stranger, as l suppose what need to fear? do not know that have ever seen this Mrs. Grey in my life. Why need she dread seeing mel If she is Phoebe Askern, there is a sem sible reason in refusing-she would fear many things in that case"
 The duchess shook her head.
 ssI have quite abandoned that theory, papa" she said. "Mrs. Grey is nc more Phoebe Askern than am."
 "Then, willing or not willing" he replied, II shall go and see her myself I Late all this sense of mystery. Ever since the lockets have been found 1 have been miserable-I have ho rest; find myself always wondering who that woman Is, and what she has to dc with us. If she were really Phebe Askern, that would explain every thing"
 .She is not, and nothing can be ex- plained. lam quite as uncomfortable as you can be, papa-quite. My thoughts are never away from Hollo- way prison, and the mystery there that concerns us."
 They discussed it during the whole day, in every shape and every fashion, until the duke declared that he was tired Of it and wanted a change.
 still they never came to any nearer solution of it-who the woman was, in what manner she was connected with them, what was the mystery that in- folded her. Lord Stair adhered to his resolution-he applied for permission to see her, and the permission was ac- corded to him, but he received formal notice saying that the prisoner herself declined to see him. In vain both gov ernor and matron urged her to accede to the request so urgently made; she would net hear of 1t, and she thought herself safe--he could not force his way in; he had asked permission, he had been refused, and there would be an end of 1t; they would tire soon of these perpetual efiorts-the duchess would respect her wish, and certainly not come again; and when Lord Stair found all his efforts unavailing, he would de- sist, and gradually sine would be for gotten. She comforted herself with these theories, but they were hardly correct ones.
 Lerd Stair and the Duchess of Meath, were too deeply interested to be able to forget even for one minute. Lord Stair was at loss when the refusal came it did not change his decision but it made his resolution difficult to accomplish. He consulted an eminent awyer, who told him that he bel ieved he could find some legal precedent for such visit.
 "If it be simply for the purpose of identification, you could see the pris- oner without being seen," said the lawyer. "You have but to get permis- sion from the authorities"
 "Can | do that?'' asked Lord Stair.
 .'I am sure you can, with the requis- ite permission. It is not long since l went to identify one of the greatest thieves in all England. l saw him through the grating in tho cell door; but he did not see me-"
 "It does not seem fair-not quite fair," said Lord Stait. "lf it were a man I wanted to see, it would be right enough; but hardly like to play the spy upon a woman."
 Ut is your only chance" said the lawyer.
 still Lord Stair was long before he could bring his mind to it.
 "Tell me-" he said one day to the duchess-"tell me exactly what she is like, this Mrs. Grey? l believe that am losing my senses over her"
 "What she is like" replied his daugh- ter. "I can describe her best as l first saw her at Clavering. It seems so long ago. She was tall, graceful and dignified-thin and worn; but with a most beautiful face-the most beautiful and the saddest have ever seen. The strange thing about her then was the color of her hair and her eyebrows, which did not seem to belong to her face; now l find out that this was her disguise. l saw her hair; some of il had fallen from underneath her prison cap. and it was of beautiful pure gold"
 "Pdre goldl" cried Lord Stair.
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